In "Fabrication of Electrically Conductive Metal Oxide Coating by Reactive Ion Plating," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A3(6), Nov/Dec 1985, pp. 2661-2664, Hock, Stephenson, Givens, and Rigsbee disclose the preparation of an electrically conductive mixed metal oxide ceramic coating on a substrate by the use of the reactive ion plating process. They deposited RuO.sub.2 - TiO.sub.2 films and niobium-doped titanium oxide films onto niobium, 1018 steel, and glass substrates by electron beam melting pure ruthenium, titanium, and niobium metals into a DC-generated oxygen-argon plasma. Preliminary characterization data pertaining to the niobium-doped titanium oxide films deposited onto all three substrate materials indicated that the film morphology was dense and columnar. The films were characterized as a microcrystalline metal oxide consisting of niobium in solution with both anatase and rutile TiO.sub.2. The RuO.sub.2 - TiO.sub.2 films, which were also deposited onto all three substrate materials, were characterized as a microcrystalline mixed metal oxide of RuO.sub.2 and TiO.sub.2 (rutile) with a morphology similar to that described for the niobium-doped titanium oxide films. The microcrystalline structure of the films was attributed to the high oxygen partial pressure and/or high oxygen-argon total pressure within the ion plating deposition chamber during film fabrication. A mixed metal oxide coating on a niobium substrate, wherein 55 percent of the metal atoms were titanium and 45 percent were ruthenium, had a very low dissolution rate in tap water of 0.003 gram/ampere/year and a resistivity of 0.0018 ohm-cm. A niobium doped titanium dioxide, wherein 9.5 percent of the metal atoms in the coating were niobium and 90.5 percent of the metal atoms in the coating were titanium, had a dissolution rate of tap water of 0.054 gram/ampere/year and a resistivity of 0.08 ohm-cm. While these anodes have worthwhile characteristics, the life of the coatings at high current densities was not as great as is desired for various applications.